May 26 2017
D. H. Lawrence – I Am Like a Rose
I Am Like a Rose
by D. H. Lawrence
I am myself at last; now I achieve
My very self, I, with the wonder mellow,
Full of fine warmth, I issue forth in clear
And single me, perfected from my fellow.
Here I am all myself. No rose-bush heaving
Its limpid sap to culmination has brought
Itself more sheer and naked out of the green
In stark-clear roses, than I to myself am brought.
— from The Complete Poems of D. H. Lawrence, by D. H. Lawrence
/ Image by *clairity* /
I am myself at last
This is the feeling of it.
We finally recognize what has always been present, most intimate, the foundation of everything. The “you” you thought of as yourself has faded like a ghost, and you discover the real You, the solid You, that has been quietly waiting to be noticed.
Full of fine warmth, I issue forth in clear
And single me…
Often this awareness is accompanied by a delightful sense of heat, a joyous fire smoldering in the body, a “fine warmth” indeed.
No rose-bush heaving
Its limpid sap to culmination has brought
Itself more sheer and naked out of the green
In stark-clear roses, than I to myself am brought.
I love his lines about bringing himself “sheer and naked out of the green” like a “rose-bush heaving / Its limpid sap to culmination” … “In stark-clear roses.” The true Self flowers while standing naked and “stark-clear”. It needs nothing to clothe itself or hide behind. The Self is too immense and free to be anything other than it is. It knows itself as it is and requires no false mask of appearance, so it stands joyful, singular, clear, naked, with contented “wonder mellow.”
Here I am all myself.
Recommended Books: D. H. Lawrence
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D. H. Lawrence
England (1885 – 1930) Timeline |
Dear Ivan,
I love your response to the poem by D.H. Lawrence.
I don’t know his poetry at all and thought the poem poignant and an honesty of what was at that moment almost painful.
I read it several times and the more i read it, the better I related to it…thank you.
ingka